The movie is so we can cover more Minnesota political topics other than Bachmann. Bachmann is quickly committing political suicide, so she may be less of a story this year than previously thought. We will cover Tarryl Clark. We will cover the governor’s race. ProMN Politics will continue to cover Bachmann too, but will also cover the constant ridiculous statements, actions, and wastes of MN money perpetrated by Tim Pawlenty, our governor. You have probably heard that he is going to run for president, and that’s another reason why we are expanding our coverage — to include Pawlenty’s doomed presidential run. It should be a barrel of laughs.
To a lesser extent, we will cover other Minnesota politicians, the governor’s race, (Matt Entenza, enough already with the mailers!) and Keith Ellison’s divorce. ( Just kidding, Rep. Ellison.) All of this as time allows, of course. We are just citizens, not professional writers. We make no money at this, so Bachmann can’t pretend she created any jobs at Pro Mn Politics.
So, this site will no longer be updated. Please check out Pro MN Politics!
If you have stories and breaking news, rumors, or even unsubstantiated innuendo to submit on any Minnesota political topics or politicians, send them right now! to JD using the contact form here.
Michele Bachmann is so unpredictable! Who would have thought that she would defend the worst culprit in the U.S. right now?. She is defending BP over average Americans! She is probably the only person in the United States who does not work directly for British Petroleum (BP) who is actually defending BP! I’m actually astonished by this, and I didn’t think she could surprise me anymore.
Today President Obama persuaded BP to set up a $20 billion escrow account to help the people in the Gulf states who are suffering financially because British Petroleum has destroyed their businesses and their lives. Bachmann considers this escrow account a form of “redistribution of wealth”. An escrow account!
It’s now more clear than ever that Michele Bachmann doesn’t have a clue what socialism actually is. She probably thinks regular savings accounts that make a little bit of interest (from other bank customers) is also socialism because it “spreads the wealth”! Tips given to waiters are “spreading the wealth”! Bank lenders are “spreading the wealth”! What isn’t socialism in the Crazy World of Michele Bachmann?
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is emerging as a fierce critic of the Obama administration’s proposed escrow fund to handle damage claims against BP.
The Minnesota Independent reports that Bachmann spoke Tuesday to the Heritage Foundation, and badmouthed the idea. “The president just called for creating a fund that would be administered by outsiders, which would be more of a redistribution-of-wealth fund,” said Bachmann. “And now it appears like we’ll be looking at one more gateway for more government control, more money to government.”
Also, David Weigel reports that Bachmann also said: “They have to lift the liability cap. But if I was the head of BP, I would let the signal get out there — ‘We’re not going to be chumps, and we’re not going to be fleeced.’ And they shouldn’t be. They shouldn’t have to be fleeced and make chumps to have to pay for perpetual unemployment and all the rest — they’ve got to be legitimate claims.”
Speaking at a Heritage Foundation luncheon today, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) lit into President Obama, accusing him of “voting present” on the Gulf Coast disaster and serving up an “infantile” political response instead of focusing on plugging BP’s broken well.
Direct Bachmann quote:
“The other thing we have to remember is that Obama loves to make evil whatever company it is that he wants to get more power from. He makes them evil, and what we’ve got to ask ourselves is: Do we really want to be paying $9 for a gallon of gas? Because that could be the final result of this.”
Obama wants more power from BP? What does that mean, Missus Bachmann?
Michele Bachmann is obviously on the side of BP, giving them advice and telling them not to accept the President’s suggestions on how to reimburse the people of the Gulf, who are suffering directly from BP’s actions.
There is hardly any need to even mention how much BP is despised by much of the country, yet Michele Bachmann defends them. She’s even giving them financial advice!
BP can’t tell the truth, and neither can Michele Bachmann.
Caption: Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., explains the need for more oil drilling in and production during a July 7 2008 news conference. Bachmann won the GOP endorsement for Minnesota's 6th Congressional District. (MPR Photo/Tim Pugmire)
Yes! Bring it on, baby!
ST. PAUL, Minn.
National Democrats are adding Republican Michele Bachmann’s Minnesota district to an expanded list of GOP seats Democrats are targeting in this year’s election.A spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said Monday that state Sen. Tarryl (TEHR’-uhl) Clark has been added to its “Red to Blue” program. That’s a sign that the party may spend money on the race in Minnesota’s 6th District, the most conservative in the state.
The committee helps Democratic challengers in U.S. House races raise money through its website.
From the AP.
It’s time to rock and roll, everyone. Please donate to Bachmann’s opponent, Tarryl Clark and do it before the end of June! (and after, too).
Donate here through Act Blue or through Clark’s website here. Please help us get Michele Bachmann out of Congress! We need your help!
Michele Bachmann is busy doing all the wrong things, like ruining the reputation of all Minnesotans. Most people in the U.S. who have listened to her believe that we are all this way — nutty, super-religious, paranoid and crazy. Thanks, Michele. You do so much for your state.
Bachmann is also famous with the radio talk show hosts. People in her district probably probably have little idea how popular Michele Bachmann is nationally on the talk show circuit. She is far more famous than Timmy Pawlenty.
Here is one of my favorite radio show hosts, Mike Malloy, cutting one loose on Michele Bachmann on a very recent show. This radio show series is quite famous videos on Youtube so the country is sure to see Malloy regularly go off on her. He regularly poses the question, “What the hell is wrong with the people in her district that they keep electing this nut!?” and variations of that.
Way to go Michele! It’s great that you advertise your constituents in such a positive light through your being hysterically hypocritical in public while trying to garner as much attention for yourself as possible . . . . so enjoy Malloy. You deserve it.
Michelle Bachmann Is A Corporate Whore
Mike Malloy is on every night on the Minneapolis Radio station 950am, progressive talk radio. He’s one of the best radio show hosts in the country.
Tarryl Clark (left) and Miz Bachmann over there with her big mouth open
Democrats Maureen Reed and Tarryl Clark were vying for the Democratic and independent voters of Minnesota, and for the right to replace Michele Bachmann in Congress. It was widely thought that Reed should have dropped out after the DFL primary picked Tarryl Clark to be the nominee, and last Sunday, she did. She wrote on her website:
“This is tough news to share. With a heavy heart I am announcing the suspension of my campaign for Congress in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District. During the past few days, I have come to the conclusion that a prolonged primary fight only assists Michele Bachmann. I feel that it is time for the DFL to unify behind one candidate in this race.
I am deeply and sincerely grateful to my family and to the thousands of people who have so selflessly invested their time, energy, and financial resources in this campaign. My time on the campaign trail has been a wonderful opportunity to listen and speak with people across the district from St. Cloud to Woodbury. They have openly shared their hopes, fears, and dreams for the future of their families and of America. They have helped me understand in new ways why this country is great and what their government should and should not do on their behalf.
I stand firmly in my belief that Michele Bachmann is not representing them well. She is more focused on her national priorities than on getting things done or doing what is right for her constituents. You can be certain that I will work hard to ensure that Democrats, Independents, and moderate Republicans are engaged and motivated to beat Michele Bachmann.
While I am not sure at this moment what the future holds, I am sure that I will never stop working to improve people’s lives. And I look forward to talking with many of you in the weeks and months ahead. Until then, please know that my thanks are with you for your wonderful encouragement, guidance, and assistance in this past year.”
She’s right, Bachmann is not representing us well at all. Only a tiny fraction of living human beings even agree with Bachmann half the time. But, with all due respect to Ms. Reed, who I am sure is an intelligent and lovely person, her dropping out of the race is very good news. Why? #1 – She would not have won. #2 — She did not get the Democratic nomination. #3 — She would have split the vote of Democrats and Independents and Bachmann would have ended up probably winning under all of the above scenarios. Now, Tarryl Clark has a much better shot at winning this election. Thank you Maureen Reed! She did the right thing. Now DFL candidate Tarryl Clark can focus on her real opponent in this race, Michele Bachmann, instead of being in the uncomfortable position of having to run against someone in her own party, who she probably mostly agreed with on most things. Clark’s recent email said the following:
“What is unity? It’s a sense of common purpose, of working together to achieve an important goal.
As Democrats, we’ve been unified in our mission to defeat Michele Bachmann and take back the 6th District and our communities for quite some time. For many months, there were two voices echoing their concern with the lack of representation, lack of legislation, and lack of leadership in Washington.
Sunday afternoon, Maureen Reed withdrew from the Democratic primary for Congress and asked her supporters to back me. I am honored by Dr. Reed’s support. Our discussion of the issues with voters of the challenges that face the people of the 6th Congressional District and what it will take to defeat our opponent in November has built a strong, winning foundation for the DFL this fall.
We’ve always had a common purpose, but now it is time for all of us to work together to achieve our goal. Congresswoman Bachmann is a formidable opponent. It will take every one of us to win. We need you to get involved now so that we can finally address the real challenges that our communities face.”
Visit her website for more info. This is a positive development and really feels like some real progress towards getting Bachmann out of Congress!
And please donate there if you can. National and even international rich people are sending a lot of big tainted right-wing $$$ money $$$ Bachmann’s way. She will have a huge war chest of moolah by the Fall. Let’s make sure Clark does too.
By the way, after last Friday’s Tea Party rally, where I recorded Bachmann’s long shouty talk, I looked at all my videos. They look OK, but the sound quality is awful, (it was a windy day) so I’m not going to put them here or on Youtube as I had planned. It’s just too hard to hear her, and we have heard it all before anyway — the denial of reality, the hatred of taxes and earmarks, the vow to repeal “Obamacare”, the bizarre accusations, blah blah blah, etc. Who needs to hear that again anyway. If she says anything new, I’ll try to report it here.
One more thing stuck out that afternoon last week, though — Bachmann called the Tea Party people “normal”. She said it was so great to look out and “see all the normal”. God help us if she thinks angry, nasty, anti-people tea baggers are “normal.” Bleah. But to spare everyone Bachmann’s droning voice here for 28 minutes, you can catch soundbites of that tea party speech here and there online, such as at the St. Cloud Times.
It was a beautiful sunny day in St. Cloud, Minnesota today, about 82 degrees F, and breezy. Yet only about 100 or so Tea Party people showed up to see Michele Bachmann and several other Republicans speak at Lake George park in St. Cloud, Minnesota. It was a very small crowd that came out to see a federal Congresswoman speak on a beautiful day. I couldn’t bare to stay for the whole thing, because it was nothing more than a Republican campaign rally, but I did stay for the first hour. If any Tea bagger tells you the tea party movement isn’t Republican, they’re full of it. It was all Republican.
I would estimate the crowd at 100-125, but I’m a bad judge of crowd sizes. It could have easily been less than that. All the speakers, to my knowledge, were Republicans. I attended one of the first Tea Parties in St. Cloud in March, 2009, and there are at least 3-4 times more people there then. A lot less Republicans too, I’d guess. This event was completely Republican, except for the crowd, which seemed less than enthusiastic throughout the time I was there. I think they might have been wondering when the Tea Party movement was taken over by Republicans too.
Bachmann spoke for about 28 minutes. She brought up all her debunked talking points. One of her new claims is that all the major economists had dinner with her recently and told her we will become Greece in 10 years or so. Then she said us, the taxpayers of St. Cloud, are bailing out Greece! I didn’t know we were that wealthy!
She repeated that the economy was 100% public until Obama took over, and now his government has privatized, or “socialized” 51% of it with all his bailouts — you know, the ones that George Bush started. She said Obama bought the car companies. She said a lot of wacky things. She threw out lots of numbers that I’m quite sure were bogus. It amounted to a standard, deceptive Republican campaign speech, only less honest and a lot more paranoid.
She did mention that she has a plan for the Republican party to rise up again in the first quarter after the election of 2010. It will be based on repealing “Obamacare”, which seems to be her rallying cry. I’d estimate that a majority of her fans at Lake George today were over the retirement age and most everyone was probably on Social Security or Medicare or unemployment insurance. I’ll have some video in the next day or two, but meanwhile, here are some more photos from the Tea Party:
Let’s revisit a key vote on oil and renewable energy that Michele Bachmann made a couple of years ago. It was a couple of years ago, because it was a key vote, and Bachmann hasn’t cast any key votes lately, because she’s so busy with her Tea Party activities, TV appearances, and such. Here’s what the vote was for, from this key votes page.
Vote 40: H R 6: This bill would repeal tax cuts to oil companies and mandate that they pay a fee to remove oil from the Gulf of Mexico. It would also fund renewable energy programs. The act would repeal a tax break that oil and gas firms received in 2004. That break effectively lowered their corporate tax rates. It would also bar oil companies from bidding on new federal leases unless they pay a fee or renegotiate improperly drafted leases from the late ‘90s. Those leases did not require royalty payments on Gulf of Mexico oil production. Oil firms would pay a “conservation fee” for oil taken from the gulf.
Additionally, the bill would set aside an estimated $13 billion to $15 billion in revenues over a five-year period for tax breaks relating to renewable energy sources, according to The Washington Post.
The bill was designed to reduce the United States’ dependency on foreign oil by investing in alternative energy sources. However, critics say it actually would decrease domestic oil production so the country would rely more heavily on imported oil.
The House passed the bill on Jan. 18, 2007, with a vote of 264-163. All House Democrats except one favored the bill. They were joined by 36 Republicans. The Senate must debate the bill.
The Washington Post reported that the Bush Administration opposed repealing the tax break for oil companies when other manufacturing industries benefited from the 2004 reductions. It also frowned on forcing companies to renegotiate their Gulf of Mexico leases.”
Bachmann is screeching madness again. First she wants 100% hands-off government, then she wants 100% hands-on government that steals private property and takes Coast Guard boats. It would give me some comfort if she could only make sense 10% of the time she speaks.
It was anti-regulation votes for oil companies that led to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Bachmann has always supported fewer regulations for polluters.
Version One:
Unbelievable! Bachmann wanted us to drill offshore, on land, on mountain tops, on the moon, maybe even on Mars, because she loves dirty oil and dirty coal, and she loves burning fossil fuels, because she hates the environment. Now suddenly she’s concerned about oil “surging” to the surface? I doubt that she’s concerned at all about anything except getting re-elected.
(There is a big Tea Bagger rally in St. Cloud this Friday afternoon, by the way, and Bachmann is sure to be there complaining about the Hands Off policy she imagines. I’m planning on being there to record whatever dumb things she says.)
‘Hardball’ host Chris Matthews calls out Rep. Michele Bachmann’s hypocrisy — in a speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives just last week, she criticized President Obama for not commandeering private industry ships to deal with the oil spill.
Bachmann: The administration, they were hands off. They didn’t do anything. Where were the boats that could have been commandeered by the government to be sent into this region to deal with that oil plume as it was coming up in the water and destroying marine life? Nowhere to be found. Why? The administration was hands off on this policy.
Matthews: Hands off? So lets get this straight. She wanted the government to commandeer boats. As in have the government take over private industry to handle the spill. Isn’t that the sort of thing — commandeering private property — she’d be calling gangster government?
The latest from the “Bachmann Bulletin” to Constituents Who She Doesn’t Listen To:
“Bachmann Announces America Speaking Out
“It’s no secret that many Americans feel that Washington just isn’t listening. Even worse, they may be listening, but they’re just ignoring what you’re saying. Clearly, the priorities of Washington are not in tune with that of the people, and Americans have said ENOUGH!
She’s right, the extremist Republicans are ignoring what we’re saying. Clearly, the priorities of the extremist Republicans in Congress are not good for any Americans, and their obstructionism is harmful to all of us too. What good is it to have representatives in Congress that do nothing but vote “NO” on everything? Or even vote no on debate? More:
“Today, [yesterday] House Republicans unveiled a new initiative called America Speaking Out. The purpose of this project is to build a new policy agenda for America by engaging Americans through a variety of different platforms, including town hall meetings, online at AmericaSpeakingOut.com, and with other communications tools to put the power in the hands of the people to shape legislation and the future of our country.”
Just to warn everyone — I tried to sign up and the site was very slow and didn’t take my registration. No error message, it just refused to do anything with my information. I intend to keep trying later. More:
“The drive behind this project is to empower every single American who feels their voice has fallen on deaf ears because Washington is more focused on pursuing a radical agenda than voicing the priorities of the American people. It’s time for the American people to drive the agenda in Washington, not the other way around. “
Now she’s talking! Except, there is already “Change.org” and numerous ways to contact the White House and also to call, write and email members of Congress. I guess we need more ways to be ignored. Every time I have contacted Bachmann she has completely ignored me. Every single time. Not even one of those “form emails”. I wonder why? I must be on a blacklist. It’s odd, because it’s actually her JOB to listen to me, a constituent in her district, but she refuses. This is why I started my “insubordination” campaign against her, which is really a reason to impeach her. But I’ll be happy if she is simply not re-elected. She is very bad for the people of her district. She sure is right about the “radical agenda” though. That radical agenda is coming from her – and other people in Congress like her. What’s interesting about America Speaking Out is that they really want to know what skin color you have. Look at their avatar selection:
Choose your race so Republicans know what they're dealing with
I choose the bronze woman, because it’s a color I like. I’m usually quite pale, but I’m not blonde, and don’t want to be. I suppose I could have chosen the ghostly silhouette woman on the end, which is more like how Bachmann treats me anyway. In the end, I chose the color I aspire to be after my self-tanner does its magic. Now tell me, why does the Republican party care what color I want to be by August? Maybe it’s so they can recruit the proper colors for the next “Tea Party” rally. More:
“From taxes to national defense, immigration reform to health care, we want Americans to know that someone in Washington is listening to them no matter what the issue, and that your ideas will be considered and acted upon legislatively. We welcome your ideas and we hope you will take part in the process. Government answers to the people, not the other way around. Here is your chance. This is your outlet for action. You have the power to get this country back on the right track, and I look forward to working with you every step of the way.”
I’m all for getting this country back on the right track. A big step in that direction is getting Michele Bachmann removed from office by electing Democrat Tarryl Clark to that seat. That Congressional seat does not belong to a national embarrassment who can’t shut up about spending (most of it left over from the Bush administration) and wacky, loopy statements about “slitting wrists” and “blood brothers” and screeching about gay marriage. Enough already!!
I attended the protest activities during the RNC convention in Minneapolis in September 2008. It was a good time for me, but that’s only because I missed all the violence, beatings, arrests and other mayhem caused by the militarized police, juiced up by the paranoid Republicans. I missed it in person, but I watched it on TV from my hotel room later on — and it was embarrassing to be presenting that spectacle to the world from my state. I was horrified. St. Paul looked like a completely militarized city, with SWAT teams and the cops arresting and beating innocent citizens for doing what the constitution of the United States allows them to do — exercising their freedom of speech, and protesting. Things “American patriots” have always done. But the Republicans didn’t like it.
So I missed the police violence and their arrests, but I did get to see nearly everyone who anchors for and works at MSNBC, and I got to see a paranoid Republican response to a supposed bomb threat, and I even got to see some Republican party celebri-tards. Not Sarah Palin, but I did see Karl Rove lurking near a hotel garage. Yes, he looks like a shady, fuzz-topped, fleshy blob in person, too.
It’s hard to believe a Democratic Convention could be that awful, but it’s possible. It depends on how paranoid they are. I think overall, Democrats are a little more realistic and grounded than Republicans, but if the Tea Baggers show up, there could be some intense police presence and of course, the gun nuts. They are known for their threats and for carrying loaded guns around, so that could get messy. How about having the Convention in some other state, like Alaska? Then the ex-half-governor could give another snotty speech to her fan club.
The paper says St. Paul’s Xcel Center was not included in the city’s application, a smackdown of the smaller twin by its bigger sibling.”
I don’t see any point in creating more rivalry between the two cities. After the RNC, St. Paul probably wants nothing to do with any more conventions. They are being sued by DemocracyNow and several other people who were falsely arrested and/or beat up by the steroided police presence there during those few days, and they have probably had enough.
"Don't you reporters know you shouldn't write unflattering things about me or I won't speak to you!"
A couple of weeks ago, journalist Andrew Romano followed the Bachmann camp and tweeted about it. What he wrote about her anti-government propaganda forums jobs forums was not very flattering — how could it be? Her “forums” were based on propaganda and hand-picked conservative businessmen complaining about the Obama administration. As a result of Roman’s twitter coverage, she canceled a formal interview the morning after her campaign propaganda forums. The paragraphs below are from his write-up, where he discusses getting cancelled on for his honesty. Apparently, Bachmann does not believe in honesty or freedom of the press!
“. . . . But ultimately, the most important aspect of this experiment wasn’t what I wrote or discovered on Twitter. It was how Bachmann behaved because of it. In physics there’s something called the observer effect, which refers “to changes that the act of observation will make on the phenomenon being observed.” Typically, reporters keep their observations to themselves until the profile is published. With Twitter, I was publishing every observation as I made it. This had an effect. Around 3:30 on Tuesday afternoon—an hour or two before I was scheduled to fly from Minneapolis to Washington, where Bachmann had agreed to sit for an interview the following morning—I received an e-mail from the congresswoman’s office saying that she no longer had any time for me. I offered to come by Wednesday afternoon, or Thursday, or to speak by phone. Sorry, her people said. She’s just too busy.
Call me a cynic, but I’m not buying it. I’ve yet to meet a legislator who’s so burdened by the demands of a normal workweek that he or she is forced to renege on a 20-minute interview with a national magazine at the last minute. Politicians tend to find time for publicity—especially Bachmann, who by one estimate appears on national cable every nine days. My guess is that her staff read my tweets and decided that it wasn’t in Bachmann’s best interest to talk to me. And that says as much about Bachmann as anything I observed on the road. Given her mastery of the provocative soundbite and her recent ranking as the most influential Twitterer in the House, I’d initially believed that Bachmann, love her or hate her, was emblematic of a new, niche-media breed of politician. But it turns out that she’s just a louder-mouthed version of the old model: happy to attack her opponents from afar, happy to play the victim, but unwilling to engage, mano a mano, with anyone she deems insufficiently friendly. What Twitter revealed about Bachmann is that she’s not democratic enough for Twitter—or the new era it embodies.
Without the interview, my editors killed the print piece. Which is fine with me. For my next Twitter project, I’d prefer to profile someone who doesn’t prescreen her town-hall questions or try to prevent me from attending all but the most scripted of events. In other words, someone who’s comfortable with the new medium, not suspicious of it.
There is some irony in this situation. The Constitution is what the Tea Baggers (Bachmann included) are always yelling about preserving and honoring and following, as though it were holy writ itself. So you would think she would hold all the Constitution says as very important — especially important would be freedom and honesty in the press. This is what the Constitution says about the press:
Amendment 1 – Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified. 12/15/1791.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Michele Bachmann, as a member of Congress, has an obligation to uphold the Constitution, and to honor its amendments, which means she has a duty to uphold freedom of the press and freedom of speech. She also has a duty to her constituents to make herself available to the press, so we know what she’s doing on our behalf. Yet, when the press is exercising its obligation and freedom to report honestly, and she doesn’t like what they say, she cuts them off. That’s not just ironic, it’s ignoring her responsibilities.
Misses Bachmann, do you support Freedom of the Press, or only when it’s flattering to you? Do you represent all of us in the sixth district, or only those who agree with your far-right views?
Those of us who live here know the answer to that. If you are not a Tea Bagger who wants to destroy government and abolish taxes and health care reform, you might as well shut up, because she’s not going to listen to you. Her goal is to dismantle the government she hates so much, make it so tiny and insignificant that no taxes at all are needed to run it, except those taxes we give her for her salary and for her own personal government-run health care. That is her end-game.
Michele Bachmann is a hypocrite every time she complains about “socialized medicine” and socialized health care. She is directly benefiting from Minnesota’s version of taxpayer-funded health care. Her husband, Marcus, has been running a mental health clinic (even though he’s not even a real doctor) and taking taxpayer money for it since 2003! Since 2007, the couple has amassed $30,000 dollars in taxpayer money for their for-profit business, Bachmann and Associates, Inc. Can you beat that for sheer ballsy hypocrisy?
Here is the story, from the Minnesota Independent. Pertinent parts:
Bachmann and Associates, Inc., a Christian mental health clinic founded and run by Rep. Michele Bachmann’s husband, has been taking money from Minnesota’s coffers since it was founded in 2003. It’s the latest example of a disjuncture in Bachmann’s rhetoric: the Sixth District Republican has seen her star rise in Tea Party circles for fiery rhetoric opposing government “handouts” and “socialized medicine,” while, again, she’s found to be directly benefiting from government funds. Since 2007, the clinic, run by Marcus Bachmann, has taken in nearly $30,000.
In recent months, Rep. Bachmann has sharply criticized efforts by Democrats to offer a “public option” or a public health insurance plan, calling such ideas “socialized medicine.”
In November 2009, as she was gearing up for her House Call tea party to oppose health care reform, she said, “This is the most effective way we have to kill socialized medicine and to do it this week.”
She added, “Nothing is more effective at reaching a congressman than having a citizen come to Washington, D.C. – not asking for a handout, not asking for tax money, not asking to take some liberty away from somebody else, but just asking for freedom.”
Unless that freedom means you can get money from taxpayers, which her husband obviously wants to do . . .
Your fed-up-with-Republican-politicians Minnesota progressive has finally obtained a permanent domain name for this site, which is currently devoted to replacing and/or impeaching or otherwise repealing Michele Bachmann, at the moment. The new domain name is “fixthismistake.com” and the reason for that name is so that when Michele Bachmann has been successfully replaced, I can use the name to repeal and replace other bad politicians that were “mistakes”. There will be more, I have no doubt of that.
Yes, we have finally decided on that as the new name. fixthismistake.com will be used for something else. Hey, we can change our mind.
We do have another mistake in Minnesota, our Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty, who is running for president. It’s quite sad, because the man has no charisma at all, and no chance of becoming president, as has has no distinguishing accomplishments during his reign. No one would vote to make him president just because of his repeated mantra, “No New Taxes”. Even so, he is wasting an awful lot of time and money betting that he will be a contender. Meanwhile, he’s screwing up everything for the state he’s still more or less the governor of — Minnesota. When he’s here, which isn’t as often as it used to be, he does little but argue with Democrats.
The following article is from Think Progress. We Minnesotans just have to get used to the fact that our politicians do get national attention, no matter how embarrassing that attention is for our state. You see, Tim Pawlenty thinks hetero marriage is sacred. (I guess someone forgot to tell him divorce is still legal.) He does not think gay marriage, a civil right, should be legal.
If you’re straight and your husband or wife dies, you have the power to decide what to do with your loved one’s body and how to carry out their wishes. However, if you are a gay man or woman in Minnesota — a state that doesn’t recognize marriage equality — you won’t have that option, thanks to Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R). Explaining his veto of the bill, Pawlenty simply said there “is no actual need” to give same-sex couples equal end-of-life rights. From his official statement on Saturday:
The bill addresses the categories of individuals who under the law shall be given priority for purposes of determining the disposition of the remains of a deceased person. Currently a person can, by executing a will, designate who shall be empowered to control final disposition of his or her remains. The bill therefore addresses a nonexistent problem.
Marriage — defined as between a man and a woman — should remain elevated in our society a special level, as it traditionally has been. I oppose efforts to treat domestic relationships as the equivalent of traditional marriage. Accordingly, I am opposed to this bill.
Ann Kaner-Roth, executive director of LGBT advocacy group Project 515, responded that Pawlenty’s “comment that the proposed legislation is unnecessary shows he is out of step with the experiences of real Minnesotans. … The language in this bill reflects closely language already used by Minnesota’s leading businesses.” Additionally, a person in a heterosexual marriage is not required to have a living will in order for his or her spouse to carry out end-of-life wishes, so it’s unclear why one should be necessary for same-sex partners. The bill would also have given “surviving partners the right to sue those responsible should their partner be killed.”
At the end of this post is Bachmann’s latest long-version campaign ad. “Representative”* Bachmann’s main job these days is 1) demonizing Democrats and 2) campaigning for her job, which she barely performs. If the average worker did as little actually work as Bachmann, they’d be fired. If you can bear to watch dishonest campaign ads paid for by corporations and extremists, it’s after the break down below. Meanwhile, we find our fair “representative” recently campaigning in California. Wait a minute! What is she doing there?
She’s wasting fuel, money and time jetting around trying to raise a lot of dough to campaign, campaign, campaign. That’s what Bachmann does best. She doesn’t vote much, and it’s hard to get her to meet with people about important topics in person, but the Congresswoman from Minnesota sure flies out to California a lot. That’s when she’s not hosting misleading “forums” with cherry-picked right-wing business leaders or PR people.
Bachmann hand-picked Republican business owners who agreed with her for her recent “jobs forum” so they could all sit down and have a long bitch-fest about Democratic policies that are trying to save our economy. Now who did that help? She didn’t do anything whatsoever to create more jobs or brainstorm how to create more jobs except for her idiotic idea that everything is the Democrat’s fault. Hardly! As Obama put it the other night, they drive the economy into a ditch, and then they give it to Democrats to try to fix, and then they campaign to get their driving priviledges back. No. They can’t have the keys back, because they can’t drive. None of them, including the Queen of Tea Bags herself, Michele Bachmann. Here’s Obama:
Here is one of the “innovative” communications Bachmann sends out to her constituents. This one is dated today.
“Bachmann Hosts Series of Jobs Forums
“Last Monday, I traveled to four different cities throughout the Sixth District to meet with local business leaders and job creators. The goal of the meetings was to start a conversation about what government does well and what it doesn’t do so well to help businesses succeed in these tough economic times. These meetings are just the beginning of our conversation about America’s economic recovery, but I wanted to share with you some highlights of what I learned.
In general, companies are nervous about what’s going on in Washington. The underlying theme of the day was “uncertainty.” A restaurant owner acknowledged that getting to the 50 employee threshold would be very easy for them. But with passage of the Health Care reform bill, they would be looking at an additional tax if they did not offer qualifying health coverage for all 50 of their employees. As a result, businesses in that situation are more prone to remain under the threshold, effectively halting job growth.
A manufacturer said that 20% of business is energy consumption. Cap-and-trade has him second guessing any expansion or growth of his business without assurances from Congress that cap-and-trade will not be enacted. He isn’t confident that the risk to hire more help and expand his business is worth it or even affordable with a national energy tax looming in Washington.
Burdensome regulations through taxes, waste management and property development were also cited by almost every person on our panels. Some of the problems were more local at the county level, but the problem is clearly top-down in nature. Government is so focused on spending your money that when they run out, they don’t know how to stop. They simply look for more revenue. And that comes at the cost of every business owner who is forced to charge more for products and services.
What results are unfunded mandates from the federal government dictated to the states, so states cut off funding for county and city services to pay for their new federal obligations. Next, local government looks for ways to find new revenue. For instance, they may force businesses to recycle liquids that would otherwise evaporate, charging that business a fee for a hazardous waste permit. The additional costs incurred by the businesses are passed directly on to the consumer. Government is a poor regulator and even worse competitor because there are no risks involved when they make the rules and have a seemingly endless supply of cash provided by you the taxpayer.
If government must get involved in the private sector, then they must create an environment that allows responsible business growth and expansion decisions. Then and only then will businesses get back to hiring new employees, re-hiring laid off workers, and getting Minnesota communities and our Nation back to work.
That’s why I held these forums- to hear what is and what isn’t working. I received some wonderful feedback, but more work still needs to be done. I encouraged everyone at the forums – and I’ll ask you – to send me your ideas on how to create jobs. Minnesota is the land of innovation and entrepreneurship and the best ideas aren’t going to come from committees and task forces in D.C., they are going to come from you. Email me at www.bachmann.house.gov or call my offices today so we can create a brighter economic future for ourselves and for our children.”
Uh no. There is nothing “bright” about any future Bachmann would create. She’s against health care! She’s even against employers providing a health care plan for their employees!
As a matter of fact, as widely reported, Bachmann hand-picked the business leaders who would be speaking at her “jobs forums” to make sure they agreed with her far-right ideas on taxes and the economy in general.
Also, she advertised these events as “jobs forums” but even from her description above, you can tell this was a political event for her to get her anti-taxes, business agenda advocated to the public. Of course, this was all paid for with tax payer money.
This sentence is particularly puzzling:
“For instance, they may force businesses to recycle liquids that would otherwise evaporate, charging that business a fee for a hazardous waste permit.”
What is she talking about? Is she advocating that businesses don’t recycle hazardous liquids because they should just evaporate? Is she insane?
I think we all know the answer to that.
“That’s why I held these forums- to hear what is and what isn’t working.”
No, she held these forums for purely political reasons, to spread her economic and tax propaganda as far and wide as possible under the guise of “communicating” with constituents. If that’s communicating, give me silence!
Besides all the other lies, this one, finally, also sticks out:
“If government must get involved in the private sector. . . . “
What does Bachmann think the government – her employer — is supposed to be involved with? Designing clothes? Doing nothing but starting wars in the Middle East? Of course government regulates and taxes — that’s part of its job! But not hers, apparently. (What does she do, again?) And her point is not taken, because Obama’s stimulus package is creating jobs. She just refuses to acknowledge it.
Below, finally is her latest ad, — after the break – because why would I want it on the front page of this website?
Michele Bachmann wastes enormous amounts of taxpayer money advertising herself and campaigning for office on a continual basis, as reported by the St. Cloud Times last weekend.
Are you surprised? You shouldn’t be. This is what the most hardcore Republicans do — say one thing, and do another — and Bachmann is a very obedient Talking Points Republican. She does not support the health care bill because she thinks it will be expensive (not true) but she will spend our money on her own propaganda and campaigning. She does not support earmarks for her district, or anything else that would be good for the people of her district, saying that it would cost us too much. But when it comes to spending money advertising herself (see slick flier below advertising her “jobs forum”) the sky is the limit! She loves personally spending taxpayer money. Ironically, this wasteful spending is called “franking” — but no, it’s not named after Al Franken, the Democratic Senator from Minnesota.
“Bachmann reported spending $217,197 on franked communications and made 4,102,827 contacts with constituents during 2009. That ranked her 57th in the House in terms of money spent and 12th in the number of communications sent. . . . . Records show she spent $106,088 during that period to send out 1,329,017 pieces of communication.”
Communications means the propaganda emails she sends out to her constituents on a regular basis. They contain very little of substance, and usually consist of complaining about Democrats and President Obama. Even during the terrible Bush era her “communications” contained nothing of substance. (I will print her latest here after this post as an example.)
“While lawmakers typically spend more in the final quarter of the year, almost half of Bachmann’s total expenditures were from January through March. Records show she spent $106,088 during that period to send out 1,329,017 pieces of communication.
“Constituent communication has always been a top priority for Rep. Bachmann, and she has been at the forefront of using innovative technologies to communicate with her constituents through telephone town halls and weekly e-mail newsletters,” said Bachmann spokesman Dave Dziok.
One of Bachmann’s recent communications items — a two-page advisory promoting her May 10 jobs forum — drew strong criticism from Zach Rodvold, campaign manager for state Sen. Tarryl Clark, who is vying to take on the 6th Congressional District incumbent in November’s election.”
I have to admit I have never attended a telephone town hall given by Bachmann (what would be the point?), but I’m sure it also consists mainly of Bachmann whining about Democrats, because that is about 75% of what she does overall. It seems to be her purpose in life. But, I would not call “telephone town halls”, using email and Twitter being on the “forefront of innovative technology”. Telephones have been around for what, 100 years? Email was probably invented in the 1970s. Twitter is not very new either.
But the bottom line is that taxpayers are paying for her to advertise herself and complain about Democrats, and that does no one in her district any good. It fosters a climate of mistrust and partisanship that causes things to not get done in Congress, and when things don’t get done in Congress, it’s bad for everyone. But that is exactly what Republicans like Bachmann want to see happen — gridlock.
To Mrs. Bachmann– why don’t you just do your job? If you were doing your job adequately, you wouldn’t have to spend so much time “communicating” to us through your propaganda how great you are, in your own mind.
$217,000 is a lot of money. What about that waste of money do you like?
Help Get Rid of Bachmann This November!
